Shawdesh desk:

Petrobangla, the oil, gas and mineral resources’ corporation of the country, has floated the offshore bidding, inviting international oil and gas companies to explore in the Bangladesh maritime areas in the Bay of Bengal.

The tender, named ‘Oil and Natural Gas Exploration Under Bangladesh Offshore Bidding Round 2024’, was published in local newspapers and websites of concerned government entities including Bangladeshi missions abroad on Sunday giving six months time until September 9, 2024 for submission of the bids.

As per the floated tender, a total of 24 offshore blocks — of which nine are shallow blocks — and 15 deep sea blocks are available for the bidding round.

The nine shallow sea blocks are SS-01, 02, 03, 05, 06, 07, 08, 10 and 11) and 15 deep sea blocks are DS-08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22.

The bidder, singly or in association with other companies, can bid for one or more blocks.

Contracts will be signed with the successful bidders in line with the Bangladesh Offshore Model Production Sharing Contract 2023, said the tender.

The features of the proposed contract include full repatriation of profit, no signature bonus or royalty, uncapped attractive gas price linked with international marker, oil price to be determined on the basis of the fair market value prevailing in South and Southeast Asia.

It entails no duty for equipment and machinery imported for petroleum operations while contractor’s corporate income tax liability will be borne by Petrobangla, and bank guarantee for performance of the minimum exploration program.

There will be provision for assignment of interest and share-transfer and 100 percent cost recovery with a yearly cap of 75 percent.

The contractor must have a mandatory work program consisting of 2D seismic survey and mandatory purchase of available 2D multi-client seismic data against bidded blocks to get relief from mandatory work obligations proportionately.

They will have minimum work obligation in each of the exploration periods while biddable work program commitment over and above the mandatory program.

There will be petroleum profit sharing on the basis of R-factor with biddable upper and lower limits and option to sell contractor’s share of natural gas in the domestic market to a third party, at a negotiated price, subject to Petrobangla’s right of first refusal.

The bidder must ensure carried stake of 10 percent for state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (BAPEX) for both shallow and deep sea blocks.

The bidders’ qualification criteria include — individual or in case of joint venture at least one member — offshore daily production of at least 15,000 barrel of oil or 150 mmsc of gas. Bidders must have at least one global experience (other than home country) in the oil and gas exploration and production.

The Information Package will be available at a cost of US$ 300 or equivalent Bangladeshi taka to the interested bidders/companies.

To enable companies to assess the geological prospects of the blocks on offer, Promotional and Data Packages are available on payment basis. Promotional Packages contain Bidding Document, sample seismic sections, gravity, magnetic, geological maps. Companies are required to purchase the Promotional Package in order to qualify for bidding, said the tender.

The purchase price of the Promotional Package is US$ 10,000 or equivalent Bangladeshi taka. Purchase of Data Sales Package is optional. Several Data Sales Packages are available at different prices.

Companies interested in bidding and purchase of Promotional and Data Sales Packages may contact the Director, Production Sharing Contract, Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) Petrocentre, 3 Karan Bazar, Dhaka-1215, said the bidding tender.